“Where should we look?” Ding Xun asked.

Mo Bai pointed at the display cabinets in the eastern district and said, “If I’m not mistaken…”

Before she could finish speaking, Ding Xun punched the display cabinet.

She activated her tactile Extrasensory, and the force of the blow far exceeded that of an ordinary player. Not only did she shatter the display cabinet, but she also punched a huge hole through the wall behind it.

“Is this it?” Ding Xun asked.

Mo Bai nodded and added, “The hole isn’t big enough…”

Again, before she could finish speaking, Ding Xun began hammering the display cabinet like a boxer, both fists raining down as she shouted, “Ha! Ding Xun Meteor Fist!”

Mo Bai: “…”

Ding Xun smashed the entire display cabinet apart and widened the hole in the wall until all four of them could pass through shoulder to shoulder.

“There really is a staircase leading down. Let’s go!” Ding Xun charged in first.

Ye Pingjun grabbed her helplessly. “Be a little more careful!”

“My eyesight is the best. If I don’t go first, who will?” Ding Xun said matter-of-factly.

“I’ll go first,” Mo Bai said.

“How can I let you? I’m supposed to protect you. Your intelligence is the most valuable thing on our team. As long as you’re here, we won’t lose. I can die, but you can’t get hurt,” Ding Xun said naturally.

From the moment she met Mo Bai, Ding Xun made up her mind to protect her and serve as her legs. Even though Mo Bai was now far stronger than she was, Ding Xun’s thinking never changed.

Mo Bai pointed at the boots on her feet. “I have an S-rank item.”

She stopped arguing with Ding Xun and entered the passage first.

Du Heng briefly explained the ability of the Black Boots to Ding Xun.

Ding Xun nodded in understanding. “Then once Mo Bai passes 50 minutes, we can take turns wearing these boots.”

“That would clear the domain created by the Black Boots, so it needs to be calculated all over again. The best choice is to finish the battle within 80 minutes,” Du Heng said.

“I’ll keep track of the time. If anything looks wrong, I’ll help Mo Bai take the boots off,” Ding Xun said.

Ding Xun moved ahead of Ye Pingjun and Du Heng, staying close behind Mo Bai and guarding her rear.

Like a Saint serving a goddess.

Time was tight, so Mo Bai quickened her pace. Whenever they reached a fork, she asked Ding Xun and Ye Pingjun for their opinions. If they agreed, she followed their choice; if they disagreed, she followed Ding Xun.

“Didn’t you say Ye Pingjun has the best luck? Why aren’t you following him?” Du Heng asked.

“Precisely because Ye Pingjun is lucky, the road he chooses will definitely be the safest,” Mo Bai said. “But we aren’t looking for the safest road. Ding Xun has Extrasensory, and she’s single-mindedly trying to save Gu Tiandong. The road she chooses has the best chance of being right.”

With those two teammates beside her, Mo Bai was certain they could choose the right path.

Du Heng frowned. “This underground area is bottomless. We’ve gone down nearly 100 meters and still haven’t reached the destination. This underground space might be even larger than the Research Institute. To create such a huge underground space, could the monster born here be even larger than the one at the Research Institute?”

The deeper they went, the darker it became. Eventually, there were no lights at all.

Fortunately, their helmets had flashlights. The four of them switched them on and illuminated the path ahead. But that also turned them into targets.

Ding Xun said, “It looks like we’d be really easy to ambush this way.”

Du Heng gritted his teeth. “Could you say a little less? You’re way too much of a jinx!”

Ye Pingjun defended Ding Xun. “I don’t think she’s jinxing us. She has Extrasensory. If she blurted out something like that, maybe her sixth sense is warning us.”

The instant Ye Pingjun finished speaking, the ceiling above them began to shake violently. Countless chunks of rock fell, threatening to bury them alive.

The places Mo Bai stepped on didn’t collapse, but the route they took twisted and turned. Not every spot was touched by the Black Boots, especially the ceiling. This also meant that they didn’t walk over the space on the floor above.

The change came too quickly. Before anyone could react, they were buried beneath countless enormous rocks.

Du Heng managed to drink his only bottle of advanced nutrient potion in time to replenish his energy, but his power was useless against nonliving objects.

Against monsters, Du Heng was the Grim Reaper incarnate. But against boulders, he was just a fragile weakling who collapsed at a touch.

After the earth shook, two people appeared in front of the rubble. They were Dai Qianzhong and Pang Mian of Six Paths.

“Are there signs of life underneath?” Dai Qianzhong asked.

“I’ll take a look,” Pang Mian said.

Although he said he would look, he didn’t move at all. His External Brain did the searching.

This was also Pang Mian’s way of staying alive. In fact, this wasn’t his original body. His External Brain already replaced it.

The strongest part of Pang Mian’s ability was how difficult he was to kill. Mental pollution couldn’t hurt him, and physical attacks couldn’t kill him either. As long as his External Brain stayed alive, he wouldn’t die.

His External Brain could transfer into any object. A flower petal, a leaf, a stone, or even a plastic bag drifting along the roadside. Any of them could be a hiding place for the External Brain.

The External Brain also moved extremely fast, almost at the speed of sound. Even if someone locked onto its location, it could immediately flee.

Most importantly, it could silently take over other people’s bodies.

Even an advanced player couldn’t defend against Pang Mian’s Possession ability without an ability related to mental domains.

In just 2 minutes, Pang Mian could completely seize another person’s body and finish the replacement.

During this process, the target could only rely on their own mental power to fight the External Brain. No outsider could help, and their own resistance was fundamentally incapable of stopping the External Brain’s attack.

Pang Mian’s offensive power was admittedly mediocre, but he was without question the hardest player to kill in Six Paths.

Even with Weak Point Detection and Soul Reaping, Du Heng couldn’t kill an advanced player with a single slash, much less catch up with the External Brain’s movement speed.

The External Brain moved boldly into the rubble and looked down through the gaps between the stones.

At that moment, a streak of blood-red light shot out from beneath the stones and struck the rock where the External Brain was hiding.

Pang Mian, standing beside Dai Qianzhong, began to bleed from the nose.

“You were attacked?” Dai Qianzhong asked.

Pang Mian shook his head. “It’s fine. I’ve already changed positions. Du Heng can’t keep up with my speed.”

His External Brain moved rapidly, so Du Heng had no way to locate it.

But just as the External Brain landed on a stone, the blood-red light struck the stone almost simultaneously, even reaching it a step before the External Brain. Pang Mian was injured again.

Blood began leaking from Pang Mian’s ears as well.

There was no need to confirm whether the four players below were alive. They obviously were, so the External Brain prepared to retreat.

It moved very quickly, but each teleport carried it only two meters away, roughly the distance an adult man covered in one long running stride.

Every two meters, it had to switch to a different stone.

This time, another streak of blood-red light struck the stone it intended to use as a foothold!

The External Brain was still on its way when the blood-red light was launched. By the time it landed on the stone, the light struck it at exactly the same moment.

Pang Mian’s body coughed once, and fresh blood flowed from the corners of his eyes and mouth at the same time.

After three consecutive hits from Soul Reaping, even an advanced player would be seriously injured!

“No need to confirm it anymore. They’re definitely alive.” Dai Qianzhong raised a hand, and the rubble rose under her control.

Under the rubble, the four of them stood unharmed, with an enormous stone slab still above their heads.

The A-rank card Rock Fortress, which Du Heng obtained at the Research Institute, could build a powerful rock fortress to protect its user.

However, an A-rank card alone couldn’t withstand a Catastrophe-level ability. After Du Heng used Rock Fortress, cracks immediately appeared in the stone slab.

The sharp-eyed Ding Xun was the first to notice the cracks, and her actions always came before her thoughts. After seeing them, she didn’t shout a warning. Instead, she immediately grabbed Mo Bai, flung her upward, and made her land upside down with her boots planted on the stone slab.

The defensive power of Rock Fortress combined with the Black Boots’ domain formed an invisible protective domain that sheltered all four of them inside, leaving them completely unharmed.

Only Mo Bai’s dignity took some damage.

Fortunately, she was wearing a helmet. As long as her expression didn't falter, it wouldn't count as embarrassing. Mo Bai touched her helmet and thought this with practiced familiarity.

Du Heng quietly asked Ye Pingjun, “Is your Sister Ding always this rough and uninhibited?”

Ye Pingjun nodded. “The first time I met her, she carried Mo Bai’s wheelchair everywhere, threw Mo Bai out of it, and sent her crashing into a pile of dolls. Tossing Mo Bai around is basically a tradition for her.”

The two of them spoke quietly, but the public channel on their helmets was open, so everyone on the team could hear them.

Mo Bai said nothing, but Ding Xun spoke with some embarrassment. “Stop rambling. Get rid of that soul first!”

The “soul” she meant was naturally Pang Mian’s External Brain.

“Good. I’ve really disliked him for a long time.” Du Heng raised the Scythe of Death and chased after the fleeing External Brain.

He swung the scythe stylishly and once again launched an attack before the External Brain reached its destination, accurately striking the stone where it intended to hide.

Pang Mian spat out a large mouthful of blood, braced himself against the wall, and sank to his knees. “How did he know where I was going in advance?!”

Dai Qianzhong had a sweet-looking face, but her expression was extremely grave. She studied the four players for a moment, then pointed at Ding Xun. “She’s the key.”

The reason Du Heng could hit the External Brain with every strike was Ding Xun. She used Synesthesia on Du Heng, linking her sixth sense with his and allowing him to use her superhuman intuition.

With her Extrasensory, Du Heng could keenly sense where the External Brain would hide next and launch his attack in advance.

Even a lead of only 0.01 seconds was enough to see the opening.

Du Heng grew vicious. He was determined to eliminate Pang Mian, this troublesome bastard who helped evil people commit atrocities. In the Love Amusement Park, Mo Bai wouldn’t have been forced to seal her heart and lose all her abilities if not for him.

As soon as Dai Qianzhong finished speaking, the External Brain was struck by another slash. Pang Mian said weakly, “The Manga Blade was taken by Xie Xingchen. I don’t have any offensive cards left!”

“Then go steal someone else’s body. I’m under no obligation to save you,” Dai Qianzhong said coldly.

She was a member of Six Paths, but she clearly wasn’t close to Pang Mian.

The External Brain steeled itself, changed direction, and rushed toward Ding Xun.

It decided to seize Ding Xun’s body.

It guessed that Du Heng possessed the Exoskeleton Puppet card. If it took over Du Heng’s body, Du Heng might recklessly use Exoskeleton Puppet. Even if Du Heng died, the External Brain wouldn’t be able to obtain his body, and its energy would be wasted.

The man in the back looked completely ordinary and failed to arouse its interest.

Although Ding Xun was of the opposite sex, she was tall and physically strong, making her perfectly suitable as a temporary body.

To reach Ding Xun, the External Brain took two more hits from Du Heng’s scythe. Finally, with its life hanging by a thread, it landed on Ding Xun’s head.

At the same time, Pang Mian’s body crumpled to the ground and died.

The External Brain was badly injured, but that didn’t matter. As long as it seized Ding Xun’s body and absorbed her mental power, it could heal.

Without this woman, Du Heng would have no way to attack it.

Once it fused with Ding Xun’s brain, any attack from Du Heng would also hurt Ding Xun, so Du Heng definitely wouldn’t strike.

As long as it landed on Ding Xun, it would be safe!

The External Brain extended transparent threads like a spiderweb. They burrowed into Ding Xun’s brain as it attempted Possession.

At that moment, the External Brain heard a boisterous voice enter its consciousness: “So this is what you were thinking? How filthy!”

It wasn’t a conversation. The voice entered its consciousness directly.

It was Ding Xun’s voice.

“How did you do that?” the External Brain asked in shock.

“It’s my Synesthesia ability. You’re an External Brain, so you’re basically brainwaves, which are like the sixth sense, or maybe what people call the soul. Could you be a seventh sense? I’m not sure either.” Ding Xun conversed with the External Brain in her mind. “Anyway, the body has five senses, and the brain has sensations too, right? As long as it’s a sensation, I can use Synesthesia on it.”

The External Brain immediately sensed danger and sped up its attempt to devour Ding Xun’s brain.

In the past, whenever it possessed someone, the other person’s brain was like cotton and offered almost no resistance. The External Brain could easily “eat” through it.

But this time, Ding Xun’s brain was like a solid rock. It couldn’t bite through it at all!

“What’s wrong with your brain?” the External Brain asked in panic.

“Probably my Extrasensory?” Ding Xun said uncertainly. “My five senses are stronger than normal people’s, and my sixth sense is stronger too. Does this count as you being unable to beat me?”

“If I weren’t injured, how could I possibly lose to you?” the External Brain roared.

“Exactly. You’re injured. Let me find your wounds.” Ding Xun gave an evil little laugh.

No one knew exactly where a mental injury was located, but somehow, Ding Xun found the External Brain’s wounds.

She sensed the way the External Brain attacked other brains a moment earlier, copied it, and aimed at one of its wounds to take a “bite.”

“Ptooey! It’s not tasty. Didn’t you say it was like cotton candy? This is nothing like it!”

“Ptooey! It’s like chewing sawdust.”

“Ptooey! Is this thing even edible? Maybe I should spit it back out.”

“How about I try another wound?”

“Ptooey! What kind of disgusting thing is this?!”

Under Ding Xun’s bite after bite, the External Brain gradually lost consciousness.

The battle inside Ding Xun’s mind was fierce, but she remained perfectly still on the outside, her eyes closed and her body unmoving.

Ye Pingjun looked at her anxiously and shouted at Dai Qianzhong, “What did you do to her?”

“It wasn’t me,” Dai Qianzhong said. “It was Pang Mian. I imagine that when she opens her eyes again, she’ll be Pang Mian.”

“Not necessarily,” Du Heng said, staring at Ding Xun.

Ding Xun withdrew the Synesthesia connection, but Du Heng still possessed Weak Point Detection. Through that ability, he could see the External Brain’s whereabouts. He saw a soul inside Ding Xun’s brain growing weaker and weaker, but it wasn’t Ding Xun’s.

Mo Bai, who remained silent the whole time, secretly smiled.

Mo Bai dealt with Pang Mian before and noticed that the External Brain didn’t care whether Pang Mian’s body lived or died. She already guessed long ago that the External Brain might have a Possession ability.

After Ding Xun swung her around like a weapon and made her stomp on the stone slab, Mo Bai realized that they were under attack.

Mo Bai knew their enemies could only be Dai Qianzhong, Pang Mian, and Xie Xingchen, so she formulated a battle plan specifically for the three of them.

She instructed Du Heng and Ding Xun to work together against the External Brain. At the same time, she told Ding Xun that if the External Brain showed any intention of taking over her body, Ding Xun should use Synesthesia to connect with Mo Bai’s mental power.

Mo Bai possessed the title Indestructible Diamond. If her consciousness connected with Ding Xun’s, the External Brain would be unable to do anything to Ding Xun.

But Mo Bai didn't even need to act. The External Brain was simply “eaten” by Ding Xun’s consciousness.

Because of the connection, Mo Bai heard the entire process too. Ding Xun was quite disgusted by the External Brain’s energy.

Amid Ding Xun’s repeated complaints, “This stuff can’t be eaten,” “What kind of junk food have you been eating?” and “Eat something better in your next life,” the External Brain died a humiliating death.

Du Heng saw the weakness tied to Pang Mian disappear and told Ye Pingjun, “Don’t worry. Ding Xun’s perfectly fine.”

Ding Xun opened her eyes and looked at Du Heng. “That guy’s dead. Guess we can call this a victory for our cooperation.”

She raised her hand and high-fived Du Heng.

On the other side, Dai Qianzhong said, “You’re really strong. Once you become an Advanced player, would you consider joining Six Paths?”

“Are you insane?” Ding Xun said. “We’re enemies right now.”

“Why are we enemies?” Dai Qianzhong asked, as if she no longer remembered what happened before. “The one I wanted to deal with wasn’t you. It was that monster from the Observation Group.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Ding Xun said. “I’ll admit that Mo Bai’s intelligence is monstrous, but Gu Tiandong and I are about equally intelligent. How do we look like monsters?”

Seeing that Ding Xun was missing the point, Ye Pingjun hurriedly pulled her behind him and said to Dai Qianzhong, “Don’t forget what you did to us before. What makes you think we would ever cooperate with you?”

Dai Qianzhong showed no guilt whatsoever. “I didn’t let the trading market dismember you directly because I intended to release you after the incident was over. We aren’t enemies.”

“Bullshit!” Ding Xun swore outright.

Dai Qianzhong pointed at Mo Bai and said to Du Heng, “Du Heng, you’re an Advanced player too. You know what the Observation Group is, so why are you still staying with them?”

“Observation Group members are people too,” Du Heng said. “Can’t you treat them fairly?”

“Fairly?” Dai Qianzhong sneered. “When monsters in forced instances slaughter players over and over again, why don’t you tell the monsters to treat the players fairly? It seems you really don’t know anything. Xing Shuo is impressive, I’ll give him that. He successfully brainwashed all of you one by one until you became idiots.”

Du Heng was about to say something, but Mo Bai stopped him with one hand and said to Dai Qianzhong, “You seem to keep linking Observation Group members with instance monsters.”

Dai Qianzhong’s lips moved, but no words came out. It was like some force was binding her tongue.

She stared coldly at Mo Bai and felt no guilt whatsoever toward the Observation Group.

But all the clues connected in Mo Bai’s mind, and she understood everything.

Observation Group members possessed Observation Group titles that Combat Group members did not. As Observation Group members advanced according to those titles, they became less and less human.

Appearance value wasn’t actually based on beauty. Once Observation Group members reached the Advanced level, being killed turned them into cards. Moreover, they also gradually lose their human identities and eventually became something neither human nor ghost.

Instance monsters left cards behind after death, and the higher an instance monster’s level, the higher its appearance value.

When an instance monster fulfilled its wish, it didn’t leave behind a card. Instead, it turns into Positive Flow and disappears to some unknown place.

Players had Positive Flow inside their bodies.

Every clue pointed toward a truth that Mo Bai desperately didn’t want to believe... Observation Group players were what instance monsters became after fulfilling their wishes.

The reason Advanced Observation Group players left cards behind after death was that they were simply monsters to begin with!

Something inside Mo Bai seemed to shatter.

She was once a monster...

Then what about her memories, her past, her parents, and everything she remembered experiencing? Was it all real, or were those false memories woven by the system?

Or, more likely, were they the story behind the domain she controlled when she was a monster?